David Morris – brassedoff.net

One of the bits of software I’ve never managed to get going on myLinux machine is the music editing and sequencing software, Rosegarden. I’ve been using Linux for years but never managed to crack  this goal… until today.

I was cruising the blogosphere earlier in the week looking for inspiration.  I’ve got some two part Christmas carol arrangements to do for Daniel and myself and I was faced with having to switch the Windows box on for the first time in a couple of months (yes, it’s been that long) and use Sibelius when I found the answer.

What I needed was a soft synthesizer and to pipe the midi output from Rosegarden in to that. It was all so blindingly obvious. I’d been barking up completely the wrong tree trying to get jack working properly.

Into Yast, install QSynth, follow a few simple instructions here and we were nearly off and cooking. the little green light on the QSynth tab was flashing to show that things were happening. The volume was turned up, but something was still missing…

Ah. Soundfonts.

Back to Yast, install the soundfont, a few program restarts and Rosegarden was alive, alive I tell you.

Yet another reason not to turn the Windows machine on at home. Can I think of any more?

If  there was a Linux or Mac port of Rail simulator now…

Dan’s brass teacher rang my mobile just as I was about to get on my bike on the way home from work this evening with the good news that Dan passed his Grade I Euphonium with Merit. He got around 75% and, according to his teacher, got one of the best scores of any of her pupils she put forward for exams this round.

Needless to say, we’re all very pleased and will probably be going out on Friday to celebrate!

Daniel’s got his Grade I euphonium exam in 10 days or so. We had a rehearsal with his accompanist this afternoon. It’s the first time Dan’s played these pieces with a piano, although he has endured me banging out some accompaniment to some of his other tunes. Mrs Woolforbrains had to sit in the car. Nerves had taken hold and she admitted to being well outside her comfort zone. To be fair, she’s doing extremely well considering that she’s learning music along with Dan. He’s doing all the playing, but Mrs W’s learning all about dynamics, notes (Every Good Boy Deserves Fishcakes and F.A.C.E etc), sharts, flats and brass fingering. I think the prospect of Dan and some pianist neither of us knew was just a bit too much. She needn’t have worried. It went very well. Dan sounded great and if he plays in his exam like he played today, I think he’ll get a very good result which will do wonders for everyone’s confidence!

We’ve all been singing “All Night, All Day” and “Postman Pat” all afternoon as we’ve been driving around Chesterfield.

I’m now off to heat up the lamb curry I made earlier for supper.

Daniel came home from school yesterday with a note from his Brass teacher. She wants to put him in for Grade One. It’s ironic really, because it was only a day earlier that Mrs Woolforbrains and I were talking about whether he was ready for taking any exams on the euphonium. He’s got to play three pieces (one of which is likely to be the Postman Pat theme!), two one octave scales (C major and A minor (presumably harmonic seeing as that’s what we’ve been practising) and a bit of aural work (which I can practice with him). Mrs W’s downloaded the syllabus from t’Interweb, so we know what we’re shooting for.

It’s evident that Daniel has hit on something he’s good at, and the new instrument is certainly helping. He’s producing a really nice sound. The higher notes still sound a bit strangled, but that’s all due to breathing and air. I squeeze out really high notes, but a D above middle C is high for our Dan, and that’s something else we need to work on over the coming weeks.

For myself, I’m really proud of what he’s achieved so far. It’s probably about time we had a new MP3 of his playing on here so you can judge his progress and see that it’s not just me!

This article is filed well and truly under family and music.

It’s probably one of the first tunes everyone learns to play on a musical instrument. Why? Because you only need three notes. Typical therefore that Daniel’s brass teacher has taught them B natural, C and D. You can’t play Merrily We Roll Along with B natural, C and D. You need notes a tone apart. Enter cornet-playing father. Daniel now has an extra note in his repertoire, namely E. You can play Merrily We Roll Along with C, D and E.

To prove it, here’s a short mp3 of Daniel playing that good old standard…

Merrily we roll along as played by Daniel aged 7

Just a reminder that he’s only been playing around 10 days. I think this is pretty good progress and he’s making a reasonable sound to boot.

Well and truly. I really tried to convince him that he wanted a cornet, but he insisted on the euphonium. I had to give in because it was better than a saxophone or a clarinet. To find out what I’m talking about, take a look at this posting on Mrs Woolforbrains‘ blog. This posting is filed firmly under family and loosely under music.